About Me

I am a lawyer in Melfort, Saskatchewan, Canada who enjoys reading, especially mysteries. Since 2000 I have been writing personal book reviews. This blog includes my reviews, information on and interviews with authors and descriptions of mystery bookstores I have visited. I strive to review all Saskatchewan mysteries. Other Canadian mysteries are listed under the Rest of Canada. As a lawyer I am always interested in legal mysteries. I have a separate page for legal mysteries. Occasionally my reviews of legal mysteries comment on the legal reality of the mystery. You can follow the progression of my favourite authors with up to 15 reviews. Each year I select my favourites in "Bill's Best of ----". As well as current reviews I am posting reviews from 2000 to 2011. Below my most recent couple of posts are the posts of Saskatchewan mysteries I have reviewed alphabetically by author. If you only want a sentence or two description of the book and my recommendation when deciding whether to read the book look at the bold portion of the review. If you would like to email me the link to my email is on the profile page.

Friday, December 12, 2014

The Golden Spruce

The giant trees of the West Coast
are the defining feature of Haida Gwaii. In Silver
Totem of Shame, the author, R.J. Harlick provides a vivid description:

This
was my first up-close look at Haida Gwaii’s famed rainforests and I was
overwhelmed. Since old growth white pine grow on Three Deer Point, I was used
to the size of tree Mother Earth can produce when left to her own devices, but
never in my wanderings in the forests of Eastern Canada had I encountered such
monsters. With diameters in excess of five to seven meters, the heights of
these red cedars were in back arching territory seventy to eighty meters.
According to Becky, these were babies, only a few hundred years old. The six or
seven-hundred-year grandmothers were twice the size, but were only found in the
inaccessible reaches of the archipelago where loggers had never tread.

For centuries a special Sitka
Spruce was honoured by the Haida. It was also of great interest to the white people of the West Coast. The story of the Golden Spruce shall wind up my series of posts involving
the Haida of British Columbiaand the
mystery, Silver Totem of Shame:

31. - 397.) The Golden
Spruce by John Vallant – In the Queen Charlotte Islands a golden Sitka spruce tree started
growing about

A bench at the end of the Golden Spruce Trail overlooking the
Yakoun River where the original tree stood.

1700. Its needles were a luminous gold rather than green. In
Haida mythology a small boy fleeing disaster with his grandfather looked back
after he was told to only look ahead and was turned into the tree. The book
explores how the giant trees of the Pacific Northwest
grow over the centuries. In the last century the vast old growth forests of
B.C. have been cut down. Grant Hadwin, a classic loner, worked in the logging
industry. Like many loggers he loved nature. His life is transformed when he
has a vision – a mystical calling from the Divine if he had been religious. He
militantly turns against the logging industry. In a shocking self-indulgent
protest against the logging industry he cuts down the Golden Spruce. He
succeeds only in uniting the world against him. Hadwin disappears while on a
quixotic sea kayak journey from Prince
Rupert to the Queen Charlottes in mid-winter to attend
court. It was fascinating to read the attempts made to save the legacy of the
Golden Spruce by clone or graft. The results are yet uncertain. I read the book
in 2 days. The book provides insight into the life changing experiences of
those called by God and feel compelled to respond. (Aug. 8/07) (Best non-fiction of 2007)

While the Golden Spruce was felled in 1997 efforts, as set out in my review above, were made to have the tree live again. A Vancouver Sunnewspaper article 2012 sets out how cuttings taken from the tree before and
after it was cut down have fared. With regard to cuttings from after the tree went down the article states:

After the original tree came down, the top was sent to the Cowichan Lake
Research Station. About 100 cuttings were grafted onto Sitka spruce samples and
of those, 60 survived, said station manager Mark Griffin. Twenty have been
planted on the property, after spending years in a greenhouse.

Some of the cuttings were given to
the Haida Nation.

One was planted in Port Clements,
about 10 kilometers from where the original tree stood. The photo below is of
that tree. I pray that the tree thrives and
grows and future generations can appreciate the majesty of the Golden Spruce.

6 comments:

Oh, what magnificent trees, Bill! Absolutely astounding! I'm so glad you share those 'photos. I'm sure too that the 'photos are nothing compared to what it's like to really see those trees! Thanks for sharing about the book, too. It really does sound interesting.